Paula Badosa pulled out of Indian Wells due to a back injury and her replacement will be none other than Australian Open sensation Eva Lys.
On Sunday, the rising German star beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her qualifying opener in the desert but then picked up a defeat versus Jule Niemeier in the qualies final round on Monday.
However, the 23-year-old stayed in Indian Wells, hoping she would somehow still make the main draw.
And after Badosa announced her withdrawal late on Thursday, Lys sneaked in as a lucky loser and will play Caroline Dolehide in the first round on Friday.
“Rose from the dead again…” the world No. 78 captioned her Instagram Story.
Lys’ was one of the best stories of this year’s Australian Open
After losing in the Australian Open qualifying final round, the 23-year-old stayed in Melbourne – and literally at the last moment – she made the main draw after Anna Kalinskaya pulled out just 10 minutes before the start of her match.
The rest is history as the German went on to win the next three matches before losing to Iga Swiatek in the round-of-16.
During that run, Lys became the first lucky loser since 1988 to reach the Australian Open round-of-16 – she made her first second week at a Grand Slam – collected her biggest prize money ever – and also secured breaking into the top-100 for the first time in her career.
“It’s definitely an insane story, how fast it happened. It’s been just a couple of days. Those days have totally changed my life … I feel like my lucky loser position definitely helps me. Sometimes you just need a second chance,” she said at the Australian Open.
Now, there is no doubt that Lys will also be looking to do something similar in Indian Wells, where she has never played in a main draw before.
